Without a care in the world
by GinnytheQueen
Summary: My version of a scene that's going to be in City of Heavenly Fire, based on two teasers released by Cassie. {CLACE}


My one-shot is based on the COHF snippet released by Cassandra Clare. The snippet is the first paragraph of the story, written in _italics_.

* * *

_Idris had been__ green and gold__ and russet in the autumn, when Clary had first been there. It had a stark grandeur in the winter: the mountains rose in the distance, capped white with snow, and the trees along the side of the road that led back to Alicante from the lake were stripped bare, their leafless branches making lace-like patterns against the bright sky._

_Sometimes Jace would slow the horse to point out the manor houses of the richer Shadowhunter families, hidden from the road when the trees were full but revealed now. She felt his shoulders tense as they passed one that nearly melded with the forest around it: it had clearly been burned and rebuilt. Some of the stones still bore the black marks of smoke and fire. "The Blackthorn manor," he said. "Which means that around this bend in the road is …" He paused as Wayfarer summited a small hill, and reined him in so they could look down to where the road split in two. One direction led back toward Alicante — Clary could see the demon towers in the distance — while the other curled down toward a large building of mellow golden stone, surrounded by a__ low wall.__ " … the Herondale manor," Jace finished._

_The wind picked up; icy, it ruffled Jace's hair. Clary had her hood up, but he was bare-headed and bare-handed, having said he hated wearing gloves when__ horseback riding.__ He liked to feel the reins in his hands. "Did you want to go and look at it?" she asked._

_His breath came out in a__ white cloud.__ "I'm not sure." _

* * *

Clary didn't know where they were going anymore. She had assumed Jace wanted to see his family's abandoned manor, but that's not where Wayfarer was taking them. She shivered. The wind was so much colder than in Manhattan. She looked apprehensively at Jace's bare wrists and hands, and saw goosebumps there. She adjusted herself on the saddle so that she was closer to him, hoping that she could give him some warmth, even though the heavenly fire inside him provided him enough of that.

"Where are we going?"

"I don't even know."

"We might go back," she suggested, thinking of how worried Izzy and Alec must've been.

"No," Jace said firmly. "Not yet."

"Jace. Either we ride back to Alicante now, or we can take a detour and see the Herondale manor. There's no other option. And I fear a storm is brewing. I don't want to be caught in the middle of it, we'll freeze to death."

"We can have some Heat runes if that's what worries you. I want to see something."

"What?"

"There was a place Valentine brought me to a couple of times… I want to see if I can find it."

He scanned the place. It was hard with all the fog and clouds, but he must've found what he was looking for because he told Wayfarer where to go.

Jace didn't have to see Clary's face to guess her quizzical expression.

"You'll see," he told her.

* * *

It was a cave.

They dismounted from Wayfarer.

"You wait for us here," Jace told the horse.

Clary scratched Wayfarer's face before turning to enter the cave and interlacing her gloved fingers with Jace's bare ones.

"What is that supposed to be?" she asked Jace as they were walking.

"Exactly what it looks like. A cave."

The path was starting to go downhill and the light from outside was fading.

"And we're going in because?"

"Because there's a lake, further down. Like a hot pool."

"Okay," she said quietly, still not sure what they were doing there.

She glanced at the rune on her forearm: it was still there, black and clear. She'd been carrying Fireproof runes for a few weeks now. It had been Izzy's idea, a truly brilliant one. She and Jace had been able to finally touch each other again _in every way_, and yes, what a pleasure it had been.

They kept walking in silence for long minutes.

Then suddenly there it was, the lake. It was as large as the cave would allow and Clary couldn't see the bottom – although that was probably because of the lack of light more than the lake's actual depth.

Jace disentangled his fingers from hers and got closer to the pool.

He was not going to do what Clary thought he was going to do, right?

But that's what it looked like. He pulled his shoes off.

"Jace?"

"We're going for a bath."

So he _was_ going to do what Clary thought he was going to do.

"Have you lost your mind?" she asked him.

"Not at all."

"Then why are you suggesting such a thing?"

"Because it's cold outside and this is going to be fun." He smirked.

"Fun? With everything that's happening, you talk about fun? There's no time for fun, right now, Jace, and you know it. We should go back, before it starts to snow or we'll be stuck here."

Jace flashed a lazy smile. "Clary," he said calmly. "I don't want to go back just now. It's not like they need us in Alicante at the moment."

Clary assumed that for 'they', he meant her family and the Lightwoods.

He continued: "Sebastian has given us a ceasefire, he needs to regain his strength after yesterday's battle–"

"He's going to attack soon! He's an oathbreaker, I wouldn't believe in anything he says!" Clary interrupted him.

"He was not expecting all those warlocks to be on our side, he had underestimated our numbers and our powers, Clary. He needs a new strategy and new plan. This is _exactly_ the time for fun because I don't know if we're gonna have any time at all, in the future."

The confident façade he always wore was gone. He had finally admitted that they might lose. That the end might come for them, and soon. Looking at him, he had a strange expression on his face. Vulnerability, something she'd never in a million years associate with Jace.

"What about the weather? How are we gonna get back to the city?"

"We can stay here all the time we like. We've got steles, you can draw a rune in a second and we can Portal just outside the city wards."

He had a point. And Clary couldn't bear to look at him like this.

"Okay," she said. "Let's do this."

She got her boots and off. She was starting to remove one item of clothing at a time: first her gloves, then her quilted jacket, her sweater–

"Wait," Jace stopped her. "Let me do the honors."

His usual grin was back on his face as he pulled her against him and kissed her. They kissed and kissed, until the heat coming from his body became too much. The heavenly fire couldn't hurt Clary thanks to the rune, but it was still slightly uncomfortable so they had to stop.

"Time to cool off, isn't it?" Jace said, pointing to the pool.

Clary did not reply. She simply got rid of his jacket and shirt, leaving him bare chested and blinking.

Just before her own t-shirt was discarded, Clary had a second to think about what underwear she currently had. Matched plain cotton: nothing embarassing (like the kittens panties she'd worn the other day), but not exactly exciting either. There was nothing to be shy about, of course. Jace had seen that much of her and more.

Actually, she surprised herself thinking with a certain tinge of pride, there wasn't any part of her that Jace hadn't seen.

Both their pants were left on the cold stone pavement of the cave as Jace and Clary collided against each other again – much less dressed this time.

Her eyes wandered over his handsome muscolar body, from his golden eyes to his gray boxers. Right now, illuminated just by the faint light reflected by the water of the lake, he was the angel of her dreams. The scars and marks on his skin only made him sexier and made her want him more.

They kissed again, with less tenderness than before, like they wanted to forget that this might've been their last peaceful time together. That everyone they loved might've been dead by tomorrow. That somewhere out there Sebastian was plotting his revenge.

They just wanted to be together. Without a care in the world, for once.

* * *

**Author's note:** hi everyone! Thanks for reading.

Someone requested on Tumblr that I wrote a Clace one-shot based on one of the snippets so I did. Hope you liked it.

Review please? *puppy face* 


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